Contact Info

Ceres, Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company, develops and markets seeds to produce energy crops for bioenergy and other markets that utilize plant biomass. The company uses a combination of plant breeding, biotechnology, and bioinformatics to develop seed products.
The company markets its sweet sorghum hybrids as a drop-in feedstock to complement existing feedstock supplies and extend the operating season of Brazilian sugarcane-to-ethanol mills. It also markets its high biomass sorghum products to mills and other agri-industrial facilities for use in generating electricity, heat and steam. Biomass feedstocks grown from the company’s seeds can also be used for the production of second-generation biofuels and bio-based chemicals.
The company markets and sells its seed products under its Blade brand. The company also markets its proprietary genome viewer software, known as Persephone, to plant and biomedical researchers.
Strategy
Key elements of the company’s business strategy include expanding its presence in Brazil; pursuing additional markets for its technology, germplasm and genes; expanding customer base for Persephone; continuing innovation and new product development; and continuing to build its intellectual property portfolio.
Product Lines and Product Pipeline
Sorghum
The company’s sorghum products include sweet, high biomass and forage types. Sweet sorghum is a type of sorghum that accumulates free sugars in its stalk much like sugarcane. It is sown by seed, grows faster than sugarcane, and typically requires substantially less water and nitrogen fertilizer than sugarcane to grow to harvestable maturity. To produce ethanol, sweet sorghum juice is extracted through crushing in existing sugarcane equipment, and then fermented to fuel. The leftover biomass, called bagasse, is combusted for biopower like sugarcane bagasse. The company’s sweet sorghum product line consists of improved, proprietary seed varieties and hybrids developed through conventional and marker-assisted breeding. The company’s high biomass sorghum product line consists of improved hybrids developed through conventional and marker-assisted breeding.
The company’s forage products consist of improved hybrids selected from its sweet and high biomass product development pipeline. The company is targeting sales in various acres for the 2015 growing season in the United States. The company is also marketing its forage sorghum hybrids in Brazil. The company is developing sorghum hybrids with biotech traits that offer higher yields.
Switchgrass
Switchgrass is a perennial grass that tolerates a range of environmental conditions and offers high biomass yield potential compared to many other perennial grasses and crop plants. It generally requires substantially less water and nitrogen fertilizer than corn, and can grow under semi-arid conditions. Like sorghum, switchgrass is seed propagated. The company’s switchgrass products have demonstrated higher biomass yields on average over comparable varieties. In its development pipeline, the company has switchgrass varieties that can offer additional increases in biomass, including the first hybrid switchgrass developed for bioenergy.
Miscanthus
The Miscanthus genus includes various perennial species that have potential as dedicated energy crops. Through its collaboration with the Institute of Biological, Environmental, and Rural Sciences of Aberystwyth University in Wales, U.K., or Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences of Aberystwyth University, and the Sustainable Bioenergy Centre of the U.K.’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council the company is developing seed-propagated varieties that have the same high-yielding attributes of comparable vegetatively propagated miscanthus hybrids, yet with establishment costs and propagation speed more comparable to other energy crops. Extending the region of adaptation is another focus area.
Sales and Marketing
The company primarily markets and distributes its seed products directly to its customers under the trade name, Blade. These customers have included ethanol mills, utilities, independent

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